


Roll with the Punches

by Sangerin



Category: From the Earth to the Moon (1998), Sports Night
Genre: Apollo 13 - NASA mission, Community: 40fandoms, Gen, spacegeekery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-20
Updated: 2009-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-04 18:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sangerin/pseuds/Sangerin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'm telling you, Isaac, it never would have happened in our day."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roll with the Punches

'They brought in some damned kid, Isaac,' said Emmett. 'Some damned kid who doesn't know the place, doesn't know the guys, doesn't understand the science. Got right up in poor Fred's mother's face and asked these imbecilic questions, and then,' he paused for breath and a swig of scotch, 'He got my interview with Gene. I'm telling you, Isaac, it never would have happened in our day. Not back during Gemini.'

'Are you going to let me get a word in some time this year?' asked Isaac, who was sitting comfortably in his house in New York, listening to Emmett Seaborn on a crackly phone line from Houston.

Emmett, exhausted by the sleepless nights of the Apollo 13 crisis, leaned back in his chair. He'd known Isaac Jaffee since the early days of the Mercury program, and they'd both been assigned to cover the Gemini missions, for which Isaac had won a Pulitzer Prize. Then Isaac had left Houston to go back into his first love, sports journalism, and had moved back north after his marriage.

'Why didn't that paper of yours send you down here?' asked Emmett. 'I know you're a bigshot sports reporter these days, but didn't they want their star NASA reporter on the ground.'

'Oh, I'm getting too old for that crap, Emmett,' said Isaac.

'Codswallop,' replied Emmett. 'You're younger than me. You'll see out this century, no trouble.'

'So, have you calmed down now?' asked Isaac. 'For what it's worth, I had my TV on your station most of the time -- oh, I switched over to see what Jules Bergman was coming up with every so often, but mostly, I watched you.'

'So you saw that idiot boy they sent down.'

'I did. Look, Emmett, you're not going to like hearing this, but it's not the same world that we were working in back during Gemini. The world has changed; what people want to see on television has changed. And you've got to either roll with the punches or get out of the ring.'

'I'm not ready to get out of the ring yet, Isaac,' said Emmett, after another swig of scotch.

'That's fine,' replied Isaac. 'But if you want to stay, you've got to learn the new rules.'

'You young whippersnappers are all alike,' laughed Emmett. 'Thinking it's all so easy. Don't worry, though -- I'm not about to hand in my resignation, not that I haven't thought about it. But as long as there's an Apollo program to report on, I want to be here, in the thick of it.'

'Good to hear,' said Isaac. 'Now -- how's Jim doing? Have you spoken to him yet?'


End file.
